England chief Rob Key’s message to Jofra Archer after his new Ashes injury setback

Key has backed Archer to bounce back and get his England career back on track after he recovers from a recurrence of a stress fracture of his elbow that will keep him out for the whole of this summer and make him miss the Ashes.

Archer, 28, has not played a Test since February 2021 and has had a series of injury setbacks with his elbow and back.

Archer returned to play white-ball cricket for England earlier this year but recently made an early return from his spell with Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians after suffering further discomfort in his elbow.

Now a scan has revealed the stress fracture.

He will spend time recovering with medical teams from England and his county Sussex, but there must now be huge doubts over whether Archer will ever add to his 13 Test caps.

Key told BBC Sport: "Jofra deserves a bit of luck. He's pretty distraught about what happened. Sometimes people think he'll go down a white-ball road and he's not interested in Test cricket. That's absolutely not the case. He is desperate to play all forms of cricket.

“I hope he gets the chance to do that. I'm sure we'll see him back at some point."

Key told the BBC he woyld not rule out a return for Archer in time for England's defence of the 50-over World Cup in India in October and November.

The bad news about Archer came as England bosses named their squad for a four-day Test against Ireland at Lord’s which is their last game before the Ashes. Sussex paceman Ollie Robinson is in the squad – and will be relishing the match after a flying start to the red-ball season with Sussex.

England squad: Ben Stokes (Durham captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).